


A day at Stark Mansion

by koala_cubed



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Family, Fluff, Science Experiments, Uncle-Niece Relationship, peggysous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 05:32:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6840979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koala_cubed/pseuds/koala_cubed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the Sousa family, the Jarvises and their Uncle Howard spend the day together - welding and reminiscing ensues.</p><p>(Peggy and Daniel have a daughter Lizzie, aged 5)</p><p>Series of moments from Lizzie's fifth birthday lunch with her parents, the Jarvises and her Uncle Howard</p>
            </blockquote>





	A day at Stark Mansion

After having lunch at Stark Mansion with Howard and The Jarvises, the party of people moved into the living room for some tea and birthday cake, as it had been little Elizabeth Sousa's fifth birthday the day before. The birthday girl was particularly thrilled with her cake as Aunt Ana had made it with pink sugar flowers and Uncle Howard built a special type of pink sparkler to top it; as a result, most of the conversation over lunch was Howard explaining to an interested Lizzie how fireworks worked and promising that they would experiment with some later in the day. Mr Jarvis quickly shut this idea down however, as it was far too dangerous - just like the many other experiments Lizzie was forbidden to do with her Uncle Howard in the Thursday afternoons they always spent together tinkering in his workshop or more recently his laboratory, much to the worry of the Jarvises. 

Peggy sat down next to Daniel on a couch and tried (yet again) to push from her mind images of what Howard might have done on that particular couch with yet another 'location scout' from his motion pictures. Peggy shivered a little, Lizzie noticed and asked

"Are you feeling cold Ma?" 

"Yes dear, I am a little" Peggy replied. "Would you go over and close that window for me please?"

Lizzie bounced off to do as her Ma asked her; as she skipped along she twirled around in her new birthday dress Ana had sewn for her. To Lizzie's delight, the skirt spun fabulously whenever she turned round, so every chance she got she would pirouette till she got too dizzy to carry on. Peggy and Daniel looked on fondly as she stood on her tip toes to reach the window handle.

"I can't believe it's been five years" contemplated Daniel. Peggy hummed in agreement

"Hmm. I know! It feels like it was almost yesterday when we brought her home from the hospital with no idea what to do with her! Thank goodness for your sister, Daniel - I'm sure I owe my sanity to Marisa and her wisdom, and to the Jarvises - although in my opinion Mr Jarvis dotes on her a little too much"

"You're quite right, - do you remember what her first words were?"

"Yes of course, they were "Uncle Jar" and Mr Jarvis will never let us forget it"

"I still wish she had said 'Mama' first" Peggy sighed

"Well I wanted her to say 'Pai' first, so I reckon nobody wins" Daniel replied. 

Peggy leaned closer into Daniel, linking her arm with his and sighed, watching Lizzie work on what seemed like a Meccano crane with her Uncle Howard. Peggy loved seeing them together and was especially fond of the idea that Lizzie was already looking to be an incredibly competent engineer at the age of five thanks to her Uncle Howard. Lizzie was also gifted with a love for fashion (especially twirly skirts) and strudel courtesy of her Aunt Ana, a fondness for Benny Goodman music and an incredibly wide vocabulary as a result of her afternoons with her Uncle Edwin and from Auntie Angie she knew ALL of the words from 'West Side Story'. In addition, Lizzie absolutely adored her father, their favourite thing to do together at the moment being reading Dr Seuss together and doing colouring pictures while they listened to the baseball on the wireless. Peggy was so thankful for her whole family and how they are raising her daughter to be an amazing little girl. Her train of thought ending, Peggy watched Howard open a large box to reveal a small soldering kit that the damned man had painted pink for God's sake. He was beginning to show a fascinated Lizzie how it worked when -

"Howard Stark, is that what I think it is? It better not be, because I thought we had agreed on NO WELDING BEFORE THE AGE OF TEN" 

"Aw but Peg, our invention won't work otherwise, and I made it special for her" Howard protested, pouting like he was the five year old instead of Lizzie.

"Uncle Howard is right, Ma! The structural integrity of the metal has been compromised so we need to reinforce it with the welding! Please Mama, it's my favourites: Pink and building things!"

Peggy sighed in exasperation and looked to Daniel for help. Daniel raised his eyebrows and suggested after a short pause

"What if Uncle Howard was to do the welding outside on the patio and you could watch him through the glass of the window? That way everyone wins"

"Why does everyone win, Pai" asked Lizzie, puzzled

"Everyone wins because your Ma and I are happy you're not in any danger, your Uncle Howard is happy because he can still show you how the welding works, and you'll be happy because the structural integrity of your machine will be fixed and you can see Uncle Howard do it and learn how to do the welding so you'll be ready when you're old enough to do it on your own, meu amor."

"Okay Pai, but when I'm ten I'll be able to build the best invention in the whole world all by myself!"

"I don't doubt you, my darling" said Peggy fondly. "You can do anything you put your mind to"


End file.
